Christmastime Blues
by Eddie Striker
Summary: Ghost Writer is out for revenge this Christmas and his target: Danny. Full summary inside.


_Title: __**Christmastime Blues**_

_Fandom: Danny Phantom_

_Pairing: Danny/Vlad_

_Author: Eddie Striker_

_Summary: Danny can't seem to catch a break. After working the crowded Christmastime rush at the local GameStop, he runs into Ghost Writer with a grudge. He wakes up in a cozy parlour…at Vlad's house…all furry…and tiny…shit, how's he gonna get out of this one?_

_Warnings: Shapeshifting, horrible rhymes, homosexuality, language, __**Phantom Planet**__ is ignored._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, GameStop or Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't even own the people in the store They're real!_

_Notes: I thought I'd take a break from writing __**Different **__to practice writing D/V and just practice writing in general. I've been super busy and hadn't much time to update. I did my research before writing this, so don't yell at me for random shit._

_The first chunk is based on my Xmas job and I figured, since I haven't worked in GameStop since December, my boss won't find me and hunt me down for this…yes these people really existed…all on the same day…that day sucked ass. And I went VERY easy on Danny. I actually had to fix that ceiling DX THAT WAS NOT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION!_

_I also don't care if you like 'Guitar Hero'/'Rock Band'. Those fucking songs get annoying when the stupid ass 9 year olds play "What I've Done" eighty thousand fucking times on the fucking demo machine._

**START!**

"Welcome to GameStop! Do you need help?" Danny grinned at the elderly woman searching the DS rack. She held a copy of _**"Diner Dash" **_in her hands and turned to him with a scowl.

"Took you long enough to get over here. I'm looking for a gift for my granddaughter. She loves to cook. I don't know a damned thing about these new-fangled technologies." Danny nodded and turned back to the rack.

He ran his finger over the games on each rack, looking for anything envolving cooking. He picked up _**"Personal Trainer: Cooking," **_and _**"Cooking Mama 2" **_and held them up for the woman to see, "Well, the game you have is more about maintaining a restaurant-serving customers, waiting tables-than actual cooking." She looked first at "Diner Dash" then at the two games in his hands.

"What's the difference between the two?" she growled.

"'_**Personal Trainer'**_is more serious, like a cooking coach, whereas _**'Cooking Mama'**_ is more of a game."

The grandmother 'hmm'ed before placing _**"Diner Dash"**_ back on the rack and snatching both empty display boxes from his hands. She waddled up to the counter to pay for the games.

Danny placed his hands above his head and stretched. _Not half an hour into work and already an attitude._ He fixed his employee nametag that hung from his neck, untagling it from his buttoned shirt. _Dang dress code…stupid buttons…_

Danny sighed and walked to the next old couple he saw, scouring the Wii section, "Hello, do you need any help?" he targeted the elderly since, usually, they didn't know what they were looking for, almost anyone over thirty didn't. The man waved him off and kept looking. Danny thumbed his small goatee.

Another woman spoke up from behind him, "Can you help me?" Danny turned and held back a grimace. The woman looked like she was in her mid-sixties with bright red hair, a hairy mole on her upper lip, and several missing teeth. She was overly made up and had on a fur coat, looking like she had just come from a party…or from turning tricks.

"Of course, ma'am. What were you looking for?" He forced a smile, trying to breathe, suffocating in the woman's overdose of perfume. He firmly believed she was trying to kill him with it.

"My daughter is looking for the 'WiiFit'," Danny winced. People had been asking about this all month. It's sold out everywhere and available only to those who reserved it…no one liked hearing that.

"Did you reserve a copy?" the woman instantly tensed at this, her lips becoming a fine line. Some people tried to lie their way through it, claiming to have reserved it _months_ ago, but upon being asked for proof, they falter and usually end up yelling. He hoped this red haired woman wouldn't end up like that.

"No, why? Is that a problem?" Well…she was honest at least.

"That game is sold out aside from the reserved copies." The woman nodded, 'tsk'ed and walked away, her high-heeled shoes thumping softly on the carpeted floor. _'Wow…she took that rather wel-oh fuck not the manager.'_ The woman was speaking with the manager, Nick, and pointing at Danny every so often, and boy oh boy did she look pissed. Danny took a deep breath as he watched the exchange.

When she finished speaking in her hushed voice, Nick spoke to the woman sternly, yet softly, probably telling her the same thing Danny did. The woman became red in the face and stormed out the glass door, slamming the thing. _Please don't break the door. Please don't break the door._ He thought. She'd certainly slammed it hard enough.

Danny turned back to the Wii rack, putting an out-of-place game back with its proper letter before hearing a loud _**WHAM**_ from the doorway and jumping ten feet in the air. Fifty startled pairs of eyes immediately went to the entranceway, where, on the ground, lay a piece of cieling. The woman's force in slamming the door jarred a ceiling panel out of place, forcing it to plummet to the carpet.

"Danny!" Nick's voice called to him, "Haul that thing in here, we'll fix it at closing." Danny nodded, grabbed the ceiling tile and threw it in the back room, shocked that Nick didn't make him repair it now.

Danny trudged on through the rest of the day, trying to block out the sounds of a song that this job has killed via '_Guitar Hero'_. He pretended to go to the bathroom in the back and popped a Tylenol. This place was gonna rip his brain to shreds.

When his shift was over (Danny thanked Clockwork he didn't have the closing shift), he hung up his nametag, flung on his jacket, said goodbye and Merry Christmas to Becky, Nick and Lisa, and walked out the front door into the cold December night's air. His watch read 8:30. After eight hours of standing about waiting on customers, he was ready to drop.

He headed out behind the store and went ghost, his easiest and quickest way home; the white rings of light passing over him familiarly as they had for four years. Now in his freshman year of college and with class in the morning, he just wanted to get home. His plan was quickly foiled as a mist bluer than his breath oozed out from his lips. Danny rubbed his eyes, "Oh great. I _so_ do not need this right now." He flew up a few yards and looked around, "Who's there!?"

A whimsical voice floated through the darkness, "Oh, young ghost boy, why so glum? It's Christmas! I thought you'd be having fun…" Danny knew the annoying rhymes anywhere.

"Ghost Writer?" Danny had too much of a headache to deal with the rhymes. Walker had thrown the purple scarf-wearing ghost in jail four years ago and Danny hadn't heard from him since, "Come to put me in another book?"

Writer's form fizzled into existance through the inky black surroundings. His hand went up in a friendly howdy. His glowing pink keyboard was nowhere in sight, but that was probably because Danny blew it up, "Of course not, young man, in fact-"

"If you rhyme again, I'm going to hurt you,"

Writer smiled, "Wasn't going to. I was going to say: 'in fact, I have a gift for you'," his keyboard suddenly materialized, "Oops, my bad that was a rhyme. It seems to happen every TIME!" he clicked a single key before Danny had a chance to react.

A light purple beam shot out at Danny and hit him hard. The halfa yelled in pain as the beam ripped through his body. He could feel his body shifting-not back to his human form-he was shrinking.

Danny's eyes followed his nose into wakefullness, someone was making pancakes and they smelled absolutely _heavenly_. He tried to get up, but found he couldn't stand properly. Whatever, he'd crawled out of bed into the kitchen before, his parent's wouldn't think anything of it. He crawled to where he _knew_ his door was and just bonked into a wall.

That made Danny's half-lidded eyes fly open, all memories of last night rushing back to run before his eyes. He reeled back and tried to jump to his feet, but he just fell on his butt again. He reached a hand up to rub his face where he bunked into the wall, only to see a furry white paw. He blinked at the appendage, praying this wasn't what he thought it was. Then again…this was the Ghost Writer, he existed to make trouble for Danny.

Danny heart footsteps coming down the hallway. He looked around the room and spotted a large plush armchair and ran under the hiddeous purple thing at top speed.

The door opened slowly and Danny watched from under the armchair as two shiny black shoes walked across the floor, "Here, kitty, kitty. Come here. I have someone I'd like you to meet, someone very dear. Come on out, it's time to eat. And I'm sure you two would love to meet." Danny wasn't sure weather to whack himself over the head at Writers rhymes…

Or to be freaked out that Vlad is in the room with him.

He turned his head to…he couldn't believe what he was looking at…make sure his _tail_ was tucked safely under him, and not sticking out from under the chair. He'd seen that episode of _**Avatar**_ _way_ too many times to make _that_ mistake. Y'know, the one where Katara and Momo were hiding from the psychotic owl and Momo's tail gave them away? That one.

Vlad yanked open the curtains, "Come on out, little one! Come on out and face the sun!"

Now Danny was contemplating wether to go out there and play out Writer's story or stay under the chair and try to avoid the rhymes. He decided the latter would never do, Vlad would find him eventually, anyway.

He didn't get the choice, however, as Vlad kneeled right in front of him, "Ah, there you are! Well, at least you didn't get far." The man reached his hand out and gently plucked Danny the kitten from under the chair. Vlad gathered the tiny ball of fluff into his arms, turned on his heel, and walked out the door.

Danny let out a yelp when he was picked up, though it came out as more of a tiny mewl. Beyond the door was the kitchen, where the smell of pancakes was much stronger. He spotted another cat sitting on the kitchen table. She was glaring at him, he could swear she was.

Vlad set the small kitten down on the floor and stepped to the cabinet, but Danny payed more attention to the other cat. An evil looking white thing she was, with bent whiskers and grey fur around her eyes to complete the look. She hopped off the table and walked slowly over to Danny. She walked slowly, her twitching tail in the air.

Danny looked at the glaring female and totted away toward a decorative silver tray laying on its side against the wall. It was reflective and he wanted to get a good look at himself, make sure this was really happening. He stopped just before he reached the tray and took a deep breath. _Fucking Ghost Writer, what the hell did you do? If you weren't already dead, I'd kill you!_ He peeked onto the tray, before standing fully in front of it.

The first thing he saw was his huge fluffy ears. He twitched one of them just for the hell of it. He was almost completely black, save for a bit of white fur atop his head, on his nose, his paws and the underside of his tail. His tail was extraordinarily fluffy. His bright green eyes were still there, only marked by cheetah-like tear lines. He had to admit, he was a cute kitten.

"Breakfast time!" Danny almost jumped straight out of his skin upon hearing that voice, _Ah, right. I'm in Vlad's house. _Something small and brown scurried in the corner and Danny's eyes went right to it. _Holy hell, is that a mouse?_ Danny bounded for the creature, slamming his paw down before the vile thing could get into a mouse hole, "Ah! Nice job, what a good cat!" Vlad put a plastic cup over the mouse, "You've actually caught that annoying rat. Or mouse, as the case may be." He placed a paper plate under the cup, scooped up the mouse and tossed it outside. Vlad set Danny's dish down beside his chair, "Here's your food, come eat with me."

It wasn't pancakes, to Danny's dismay, but it didn't reek. It smelled like tuna fish and chicken…that's probably what it was. A bowl of milk and a bowl of water were placed by the food dish. Danny tucked right in to the food. _Hey, if Vlad doesn't know it's me, then I can eat safely. And he wouldn't harm a defenceless kitten, into his character it's not written._ Danny was getting ready to just bang his head into the table. He was even thinking in those accursed rhymes!

Danny was so off in his own little rhyming, ranting, eating world that he barely noticed the fingers on his back. Vlad gently ran his hand down the kitten's back, burying his fingers in the soft fur, "I think I'll name you Phantom, after the boy I often tandem. You both look quite alike, you see." Danny looked up at him, _No duh I look like Phantom, HE'S ME!_

Danny turned back and finished off the last bit of his food, he was right; tuna fish and chicken. He took one lick at the milk and decided he didn't like it. He downed the water quickly. Vlad picked up the tiny kitten and placed it in his lap. He pet Danny in long, languid strokes from forehead to tail. Danny squirmed for a moment, trying to shake off Vlad's hand, before just giving in. He knew Vlad wouldn't hurt a kitten, "Phantom, this is Maddie." Vlad waved his hand toward the evil-looking female. Suddenly the kettle Danny didn't see on the stove started to whistle, "Looks like it's time for tea."

Danny was amused that Vlad would name something _that_ evil looking after the woman he claimed to love. She'd be insulted. Or grossed out. Or find it utterly hilarious. Vlad placed Danny on the table and stood up to get the teapot. Danny didn't watch him, as the scary female…sorry MADDIE was glaring at him again. She gave an angry meow, _Sorry, I don't speak Cat…I don't suppose she knew that._ He ignored her and jumped from the table to the chair to the floor. She followed. _Oh come on, leave me alone. I've gotta find out how to get home!_ He was about to bolt through the door when she jumped in front of him. He skidded to a halt on his furry butt.

Her furry tail was swishing and she started hissing at him while blocking his escape. Vlad heard this and turned, "Now, now, you two, what's wrong? Why are you hissing so strong? Can't I turn my back for one second without being beckoned by your fighting? Now, separate, before you start biting." Maddie glared and gave one last hiss before totting through the open door, "What on Earth's gotten into her? Usually she's docile…" Danny sniffed at this. _To that I don't concur…_Vlad picked him up again, "I love petting your fur so soft, love it more than when I bought Microsoft," At this, Danny let out a noise that sounded like a laugh. "Unknown to everyone it was actually a heist, with me in the form of a **geist**."

_Didn't know he knew German, it's fine so long as there's no evil sermon._ Danny sighed and relaxed. _Guess I could use the day off._ Vlad carried him to a chair and sat down. _After all, I don't take one very oft._ He was about to nod off when he felt something slip around his neck. _Oh come on, you've got to be kidding. If that's what I think it is, I'll soon be ridding._ This was getting out of hand, and Danny had to think fast. _Quick, Danny, say something…MULCT! _(Mulct means to obtain via fraud, or a fine for a misdemeanour)

"**IRRITATING PHANTOM!"** Ghost Writer fizzled into existence and Vlad jumped off the chair, Danny falling off his lap. _Thank goodness for legal dictionaries._

"You're that Christmas obsessed Ghost Writer. What are you doing here?" Writer was fuming, and it showed very clearly on his face. Danny could do nothing but hiss.

"What, I'm not allowed vengeance!?" Writer pointed at Danny, "You figure out how to fix this on your own! You may have jammed the rhyme, but that isn't the way out this time." _…I wonder if he even realizes he does it…? _Writer vanished.

Vlad looked down at the kitten, "Daniel?" Danny met his eyes with a what-do-you-think look. Vlad stared for a moment in disbelief before bursting out in laughter. He couldn't _believe_ it! Daniel was a _kitten!?_ Oh, he would congratulate the Writer for this one. Vlad was doubled over and it felt like he was going to laugh out his stomach. Danny hissed and Vlad held up his hand, "No wonder she…HA…didn't…HEE…like you! She…PFFT…hates Plasmius, too." Vlad calmed down enough to form a complete sentence, "Now how did you manage to piss off the Writer?" Danny just kept staring, "You can't speak?" Danny shook his head "no". Vlad nodded and transformed into Plasmius before flying into the room above.

One thing was for sure, Danny was glad for the fact that Vlad had calmed down quite a bit, not trying to seduce his mother anymore, and had given up on trying to turn Danny evil…Though that could be because Danny had asked Clockwork to show him Dan. Vlad was, needless to say, shocked and horrified, and had sincerely promised to quit. He had. Now, Danny being a bit older, can talk to Vlad relatively normally, they still fight, due to opposing views, but nothing to the magnitude of where they were before. He still tries to piss off Jack, but isn't doing anything to plot his actual demise anymore. Dannielle and Valerie are still pissed at him, and there wasn't much chance of the hostilities letting up there, he did do cruel things to those two. Speak of the devil, here he comes now, with something tucked snugly under his arm.

Plasmius turned back into Vlad and sat down on the couch, waving Danny over. He set the object down on the couch seat next to him. It was a laptop. Vlad booted it up and opened up a word processor, "Now tell me what the hell happened." Danny stood on the laptop and started to type.

**[pissed off gw on xmas 4 yrs ago got him arrested he wanted revenge and turned me into a cat i dont know why im here though]**

Vlad chuckled to himself, "Walker's jail?" Danny nodded, "Then I can understand why he's annoyed."

**[at least were not talking in rhyme no more]**

"We were?" Danny nodded, "I hadn't noticed."

**[cuz the storys not about you hes torturing me]**

"So, let me get this straight: you irritated Ghost Writer, he trapped you in a story, he went to jail and now he's trapped you in another one for revenge?" Danny nodded again, "And why exactly are you a kitten?"

**[i have no idea]**

"Well, should your friends be informed? Or do you want my help?"

**[i want outta this cat form is what i want]**

"So…my assistance then." Vlad stood up and closed the computer. He started toward the door to the lab and Danny followed, his fluffy tail swishing behind him.

Off to the Ghost Zone then…


End file.
